La Salette Gets Creative to Boost Enrollment

in Berkley has employed an innovative strategy to attract new students.

La Salette is offering parents an opportunity to have their children attend the prekindergarten through eighth-grade school free for three days to see whether they like it.

"One of the things we realized was, like any school, we can talk about how great we are," but until families experience it firsthand, they don't have any reason to believe it, Principal Dan Terbrack said. "The school sells itself."

The program was started toward the end of the last school year, Terbrack said. Students who took up the offer tried La Salette at the beginning of this year because Catholic school traditionally starts earlier than public schools, he said.

However, the offer is ongoing.

Creative way to boost enrollment

"Everybody who's tried it has signed up," Terbrack said, with one student coming from another private school and two coming from public schools.

The trial offer is something new in the Detroit Metro area.

"We have not heard of this concept being used in the archdiocese before," said Joseph Kohn, director of public relations for the Archdiocese of Detroit. "The closest we've come is high schools that have a day when prospective students can visit."

Catholic schools see fewer students

Enrollment is still a battle, Terbrack said.

For example, when he graduated from eighth grade at La Salette in 1994, the school had nearly 400 students. At the start of this school year, he said, enrollment was closer to 125 students.

"Education is always going to be important to parents, but when you have  strong public schools in the area like does, it makes the decision to invest in education a little more difficult," he said.

La Salette is not the only school battling declining enrollment.

Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit, as well as across the nation, have seen a "steady decline" for the past several decades, Kohn said.

A "confluence of factors" since Catholic schools' popularity peaked in the 1930s and '40s led to the decline, he said, including:

• Elimination of public funding for private, religious-based schools.
• Fewer people attending church.
• The cost of schools going up as higher-paid college graduates replaced nuns as teachers.
• The recent economic downturn.

In the Archdiocese of Detroit, Kohn said enrollment has fallen to 21,972 students in 73 schools during the 2009-2010 school year from 37,714 students in 135 schools during the 2000-2001 school year.

However, "the decline has slowed in the last five years," he said.

Terbrack is optimistic about the future of La Salette.

"I'm very happy with the direction the school is going," he said.

 in Berkley is holding an from 6 - 8 p.m. Tuesday. Alumni, students and parish volunteers will be on hand to answer questions and lead tours. Representatives from the school's clubs and athletic teams will also be in attendance.